Watercraft

ABSTRACT

A FLOAT BOAT HAS A FLAT BOTTOM SLOPING UPWARD AT ITS FORWARD END, AND INFLATABLE FLOATS FIXED BELOW THE FLAT BOTTOM, THE FLAT BOTTOM BEING STRUCTURALLY BRACED AND RIGID, THE FLOATS BEING ADJACENT TUBES EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETELY BELOW THE AREA OF THE BOTTOM, THE FLOATS HAVING FRONT ENDS HELD UPWARD BELOW THE UPWARD SLOPING FORWARD END OF THE BOTTOM.

P 20, 1971 P. L. TAILER 3,605,148

WATERCRAFT Filed March 3, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR:

PETER L. TAILER P. L. TAILER Sept. 20,1971

WATERCRAFT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 3, 1970 INVEN'I'OR.

PETER L. TAILE R P 20, 1971 P. L. TAILER 3,605,148

WATERCRAFT Filed March 5, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 .l INVENTOR.

e4 |o| PETER L. TAILER FIG. l3

United States Patent 3,605,148 WATERCRAFT Peter L. Tailer, 323 E. 17th St., New York, N.Y. 10003 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 765,499, Oct. 7, 1968. This application Mar. 3, 1970, Ser.

Int. Cl. 1363]) 35/00 US. Cl. 91R Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A float boat has a flat bottom sloping upward at its forward end, and inflatable floats fixed below the flat bottom, the flat bottom being structurally braced and rigid, the floats being adjacent tubes extending longitudinally substantially completely below the area of the bottom, the floats having front ends held upward below the upward sloping forward end of the bottom.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of my patent application Ser. No. 765,499 filed Oct. 7, 1968, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Inflatable boats are light and seaworthy but they lack rigidity and ruggedness and are comparatively expensive to fabricate. Conventional boats with watertight displacement hulls, compared to inflatable boats, are heavy and cannot be disassembled or collapsed. The boat of this invention provides a unique watercraft With the advantage of both inflatable and conventional boats as well as many other advantages not heretofore obtainable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A float boat has a rigid flat bottom which slopes upward at its forward end. The flat bottom and any bracing and support structure it may require need not have any buoyancy of their own. Tubular inflatable floats are fixed side by side under the flat bottom to extend its entire length and to extend substantially completely under the entire area of the flat bottom. The front ends of the tubular floats are raised by the upward sloping front end of the flat bottom to provide a clean, gradual entry of the floats into the water. The floats, whether containing one or more airtight compartments, should be tubular shapes when inflated which extend from front to back of the boat. The individual floats may be separately and individually secured below the flat bottom, or the floats may be formed contiguously with two or more floats having a wall or walls in common between adjacent floats.

This boat structure provides a shallow draft float boat of exceptional buoyancy which will plane when driven at suitable speeds. When planing, this boat provides a smoother ride than any other type of hull as the low pressure inflated floats absorb the jarring pounding associated with conventional planing hulls. In addition, if at least four floats are provided under a float boat, the fai ure of any one float will not render the watercraft unserviceable. Further, since the floats of this invention do not provide structural strength or form as do the inflated compartments of conventional inflatable boats, the floats of this invention may be inflated to lower pressures on the order of from one to four inches of water. This lower pressure of inflation renders floats of a given strength less likely to fail, leak, or puncture. This invention provides many other features of invention and advantages which are set forth hereafter and which are obvious in view of the following description.

3,505,148 Patented Sept. 20, I971 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a float boat according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 showing individual inflated floats fixed below a broken away bottom portion of a frame with a deck fixed thereunder;

FIG. 3 is a top view of one of the floats shown in FIG. 1 prior to its being attached under the boat;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section through a float showing a modified float construction;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section through the broken away inflation end of a float;

FIG. 7 is a transverse vertical section through the broken away bottom of a frame and integrally formed contiguous floats fixed thereunder;

FIG. 8 is a transverse vertical section through the broken away bottom of a frame and pairs of integrally formed contiguous floats fixed thereunder;

FIG. 9 is a top view of a fragment of a deck showing float fixing means secured thereto;

FIG. 10 is a transverse vertical section through the broken away bottom of a frame showing contiguous floats fixed thereunder according to a further modification of this invention;

FIG. 11 is a transverse, vertical section through a broken away fragment of two contiguous floats showing details of construction of the floats of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a top view of one broken away end of the floats of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 13 is an end view of the floats of FIG. 10.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a frame '10 has a thin deck 11 secured below it, preferably in tension. The side trusses 12 and 13 of frame 10 resist longitudinal bending and are locked rigidly together against any relative motion by the rectangular box structure 14. Thus the frame 10 is light and strong and rigidly positions the deck 11. The openwork structure of frame 10 has very little surface to offer wind resistance.

Referring now to FIG. 4, each longitudinal inflatable float 15 is formed from a length of tubular material 16. If the tubular material is fabricated from flat stock, such as airtight rubberized canvas, it may be sewn to form a single seam 17. Such a length of tubular material 16 would be turned inside out to place the seam 17 inside as shown. Seam 17 would be coated with liquid rubber or the like to render it airtight.

Referring additionally to FIG. 3, the front 18 of each float 15 is gathered to form an airtight seal. This may be accomplished by gathering and clamping the material .16 at end 18 after first coating the inner end of the tubular material 16 with a thick substance such as liquid rubber. A suitable clamping means has been found to be a strip of elastic rubber wound in several layers about gathered front 18. Any form of clamp may be used.

As shown in FIG. 6, the rear or inflation end 19 of each float is gathered about a flexible inflation tube 20. Tube 20 contains a metal or hard plastic bushing 21 so that tube 20 will not be crushed when a clamp or winding 22 is applied. The outer end of inflation tube 20* is stopped or valved by means of a simple removable plug 23. The inner end 24 of tube 20 contains several lateral openings 25 so that, on evacuation of a float, collapsing material 16 can not block the flow of air.

Referring again to FIGS. 3 and 4, bands 26 are cemented about each float 15 with their free ends joined to form pairs of float straps 27 for the securing of floats 415. As shown in FIG. 2, a deck section 11 is fixed to frame 10 by any suitable means. In a prototype boat built according to this invention, deck sections 11 of A inch plywood were lashed to an aluminum frame 10 of tubing with inch nylon line (not shown) which passed through apertures (not shown) in the deck sections. The deck sections were also lashed together and overlapped to provide a flat, unbroken lower surface area 40. As may be seen in FIG. 2, the straps 27 from each float 15 pass through slits (not shown) in deck 11 to be joined by any suitable buckles 28 or the like. As may be seen in FIG. 1, straps 27 secure floats 15 to the deck at spaced distances along their lengths. Rope lashings or ties may be used to lash the gathered front ends 18 of each float 15 to the raised front member 29 of frame 10.

FIG. 5 shows a modified float construction in which each float 30 is formed from two strips of material 31 and 32 which are joined at their side seams 33 and 34. Lashing straps 36 and 37 are sewn into the seams 33 and 34 at suitable intervals along the length of each float 30. The floats 30 are fabricated and then turned inside out as shown. They are then gathered at their ends in the same manner as has been described for the floats 15.

As one example of this invention, a float boat having a deck 11 of A inch plywood lashed under an aluminum tubing frame was 20 feet long and 8 feet in beam. The boat, less floats, weighed about 350 pounds. Five floats of tubular polyethylene were secured under the deck 11 extending from bow to stern. These floats were 15 /2 inches in diameter inflated and 24 /2 inches across the flats deflated. The front of frame 10 held the front edge of the front deck section 11a up 18 inches and the rear edge of this front deck section up 3 inches. Thus the fronts of the floats 15 were smoothly raised to give the floats a smooth entry and enable them to ride over seas.

The deck 11 thus provided an even flat bottom surface 40 which rested along the entire length of each of the floats 15. This even distribution of load along the floats 15 allowed them to be inflated to very low pressures. The boat functioned very well with the floats 15 inflated with as little as one inch of water which is less than one ounce per square inch. Generally, the floats were inflated to a pressure of about four ounces per square inch. This boat was able to operate safely with loads up to 2,500 pounds.

An outboard motor 41 of 33 horsepower with a standard inch shaft did not cavitate when mounted on transom 42 which extends three inches above deck 11. With the five floats 15 weighing about 70 pounds and the boat weighing about 350 pounds and a load of about 1,000 pounds, the 33 horsepower motor 41 weighing 135 pounds was able to plane the boat. Under these conditions, the extreme buoyancy of the floats, which totalled over 6,000 pounds buoyancy, prevented any danger of drowning motor 41 in heavy seas. This boat was exceptionally seaworthy as its openwork frame 10 did not catch the wind, its buoyancy rendered it stable and lifted it over seas, and any water taken on deck 11 ran promptly off. It was almost impossible to capsize this boat and it could not be swamped.

The watercraft of this invention moves easily with a light horsepower motor and planes with a larger motor. When planing it provides the unique advantage of a par ticularly smooth ride as the air inflated floats absorb shocks. The shallow draft of this boat allows it to be operated where conventional boats dare not venture. Grounding and beaching are easy and safe as the light weight of the boat and the low pressure of inflation of the floats render them unlikely to puncture.

The individual separate cylindrical floats 15 shown in FIGS. 15 provides an advantage in that they are very inexpensive to fabricate. In addition, these floats 15 may be deflated, unstrapped, removed. replaced, and inflated one at a time while the boat is in the water. This allows a leaking float to be removed for repairs or replaced with till less work than changing a tire of an automobile. It also allows the floats 15 to be removed and replaced in an inverted position every few weeks to prevent marine growth thereon. It was found that barnacles started to grow on polyethylene floats 15 in four to six weeks in Northern Waters. The inversion of the floats 15 once a month prevented such growth. Solid floats with raised front ends under a boat of this type could not be so inverted.

At certain speeds, such as when running stern low just before planing, it was observed that water was forced between adjacent separate floats 15. This did not noticeably affect operation of the boat and caused no problem as this water drained from the rear end of channels formed by the tops of adjacent floats 15. At low or high planing speeds this did not occur.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a second embodiment of this invention has a frame 10 with a deck 11 and a single float secured below it. Float 50 has contiguous tubular sections 51, 52, 53, 54, and 56 formed in it with the common walls 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 formed between adjacent sections. This float 50 need only be attached with two straps 63 and 64 at desired intervals along its length. Water could not be forced between adjacent sections, however, this float 50' would be more costly to fabricate and it could not be removed from the boat while it was in the water for repairs.

FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of this invention in which three floats are fixed below a deck 11 by pairs of straps 71 and 72. The floats 70 have two chambers 73 and 74 with a common wall 75 therebetween. Common wall 75 need not be air tight and could be formed by joining the top and bottom of a single tubular float with drop stitching or the like to provide the section shown. When using three floats 70, any one float 70 may be removed and replaced while the boat is in the water if it is properly trimmed.

FIG. 9 shows one manner in which straps 71 and 72 or straps 63 and 64, or straps 27 may be secured to deck 11. Longitudinal slits are cut in deck 11. Disks 81 are fixed to the ends of the straps. The disk 81 are of a diameter less than the length of the slits 80 so that they may be pushed upward edgewise through slits 80 to lie over the slits 80 as shown and secure straps to deck 11.

FIGS. 10 13 show a further embodiment of this invention. Below frame 10 and deck 11 are disposed the floats 90. Floats are made from two layers 91 and 92 of plastic such as vinyl coated nylon. Longitudinal stitches 93 98 define longitudinal float compartments 82-86. Rubber inner tubes 99 are inserted in the compartments 8286 and inflated therein. In one experimental craft, the tubes 99 were fabricated from inch neoprene rubber with great success. The ends 100 of the compartments 8286 are transversely closed at seams 100 and have the upper and lower pleats, gathers, seams, or the like 101 so that seam 100 is substantially the same length as the combined width of the inflated compartments 8286. Seams 100 may be laced or otherwise closed to be easily opened for the insertion of repaired or new tubes 99. Pairs of straps 102 secure the floats 90 in position below deck 11. This embodiment of the invention has proven to be most satisfactory for high speed operation and may be fabricated at relatively low cost.

While the floats 90 are shown as one single fabrication, they may be made according to this embodiment of the invention as two sets of three tubular sections or as three sets of two tubular sections. A seam 100 is easily attached to the raised front member 29 of frame 10.

While I have shown and described my invention in the best forms known, it will nevertheless be understood that this is purely exemplary and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A float boat having a Hat bottom which is structurally rigid, said flat bottom having a bottom surface sloping upward at its front end, inflatable float means attached below said bottom surface, said float means having longitudinal tubular sections extending the length of said flat bottom adjacent to each other to extend substantially completely below said bottom surface, the tubular sections of said float means having front ends held upward below the upward sloping front end of said bottom surface, and brace means extending the length of and secured directly to the flat and sloping bottom surfaces.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said float means comprises adjacent tubular sections having a common 'wall between at least some of said adjacent tubular sections.

3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein said float means has contiguous tubular sections having common walls between all adjacent tubular sections.

4. The combination according to claim 2 wherein said float means comprises at least three pairs of contiguous tubular sections, the tubular sections of each pair having a common wall.

5. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said float means comprises separate floats of inflated tubular material disposed adjacent to each other.

6. The combination according to claim 5 wherein the tubular material of each of said separate floats is gathered at each end closing each end.

7. The combination according to claim 6 wherein the tubular material at one end of each float is gathered aboutgan inflation tube.

8. The combination according to claim 1 wherein at least some adjacent tubular sections of said float means have an upper layer and a lower layer, and longitudinal connecting means joining said layers forming longitudinal inflatable compartments therein.

9. The combination according to claim 8 wherein said longitudinal connecting means are stitches and with the addition of inflatable inner tubes disposed in said compartments.

10. The combination according to claim 9 wherein said layers have transverse seams closing the ends of said compartments, said layers having gathers at the upper and lower ends of said said compartments so that said seams are substantially the same length as the combined width of inflated compartments formed by said layers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,332,009 10/1943 Perrz 92AX 2,584,884 2/1952 Kirby 91 1A 3,432,182 3/1969 Solipasso 911AX 3,513,494 5/ 197-0 Tailer 92A MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner F. Y. YEE, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 92A, 11A 

